The title makes it sound as if this is an easy walk, but this was the hardest walk of the week. It started with quite a long coach journey before being dropped off in the middle of nowhere in the Parque Naturel de Las Nieves. This time I opted for the ‘harder’ walk and it certainly was harder than yesterday. After a brief level start we then climbed steeply up a rocky path for 400 metres through a most attractive laurel forest. I have been having trouble with a persistent but low-key cough for weeks and the steepness and difficulty of the climb made breathing difficult, especially as some of the walkers insisted on a fast pace, which basically I ignored. I never see the point of walking at speed on a holiday, where the idea is to see the views and imbibe the magic of the region. As yesterday, but for different reasons, the path was often slippery and a tumble was only the next footstep away if care was not taken.
The laurel forest only exists between 500m and 1200m, so that shows the height we started at! It doesn’t lend itself to wonderful photographs except for the specialist, but the sun played around between the trees and there was a cooling draft that was very acceptable. Beneath the laurels are lower ground hugging plants such as tree heathers so the whole forest is a very pleasant mix of greens and where the sun can really break through wild flowers grow near the paths. The forest only exists because of the trade winds, which allow a cloud forest to develop bathing the forest in moist air. We reached the Mirador de Somada Alta,at 790 metres. which is just a viewpoint and a resting stage, then we continued more of less contouring before turnwards eastwards and returning to our starting point. I cannot emphasize enough the beauty of walking through these remote woodlands and they make a fine contrast to the banana plantations below and the bare volcanic rocks above.
From here we followed well made paths down to La Galga, where a platter had been prepared for the walkers in a local restaurant. There is a wonderful viewpoint of the Barranco de la Galaga here at the Mirador de la Galga, tucked behind the local church, and an equally impressive view in the opposite direction down to the sea.
You can see how rugged and tricky the descent and ascent might be into the first ravine. We then followed a local path on the side of a hill which had been terraced for growing crops, such as wines, bananas, avocados, oranges and lemons. The lower terrains are covered with smallholdings.
Reaching the coastpath GR-130, the path undulated and made various twists and turns before we encountered our first major Barranco, which are steep-sided ravines, sculpted by water – hard to believe considering the tiny amount of water that falls in La Palma. They would originally have been faults in the lava flows which are then corroded by water.
The first ravine near Los Galguitos (though the village was not visible from the path) was the steeper of the two, with a narrow rocky path to negotiate in both directions, before we were able to continue contouring all the way to next ravine near Llano de Pino, which looked as if it would be daunting as at this point we reached sea level. But the ascent was much easier with intermittent level sections and with a few rest stops we soon reached our destination of San Andrés. This is a very attractive village with a beautiful central area around its imposing church, and lots of bars.
This was a varied and interesting walk, so different from the day before and different from anything else we would do. It was very exhilerating if demanding and we enjoyed a very welcome drink in the bar before getting the coach home
Distance: 8 miles (13 km); Total ascent 1700 ft (510m); Total ascent: Approximately 3,000 ft.
This week saw the last of the steam train journeys until next spring, so what better way to go into Douglas than to hop aboard at Port Erin and disembark at Port Soderick to walk the 5 miles into Douglas.
Here is the Kissack, no 13, waiting to leave Port Sorderick. As I walked down the lane I encountered a convivial lady sportingly cleaning up the road for vehicles as all the drains were blocked by the autumn leaves and the excessive rainfall of recent days, leaving great puddles. That’s what I call neighbourliness.
Time to put Loweswater on the map. Hurrah – at last, I made it out with the group, my one and only walk not on my tod. What’s more the weather was fine, even a little sunny, so off we went on our ‘school’ trip to Buttermere and Loweswater.
The view of Haystacks from the church
Buttermere
We followed the lake footpath to the west of the lake, through Holme Wood and up to Hudson Place, which looks like a farm building and which had its own coat of arms dating to 1741 according to the plaque above the front door. Research shows that it was granted to John Wilkinson in 1910. It is a grade 2 listed building and was a yeoman’s farmhouse.
Hudson Place – courtesy of geograph.org.uk
Today, I went on an adventure. I walked into Keswick and caught the 555 bus to Grasmere. I wandered aimlessly through Grasmere looking for the tourist information only to discover there wasn’t one! Then I took a path that leads around the northern edge of Grasmere to Allan Bank, a NT house, walking through the meadows to join the Easedale Road that unsurprisingly will take me to Easedale Tarn or Helm Crag, if only I could decide which I wanted to do.
As you begin your ascent the path changes to stone steps made to look like a natural hillside path. In other places, higher up, stones have been strategically and well positioned to enable walkers to make their way through the deeper boggier areas and these are very effective. Just don’t expect to rush up as if it is a stone and soil path, even on the flat. There is one bonus to having to watch every step – you become aware of all the fossils hidden in the stones, which implies these particular rocks were shipped in from other areas of the Lake District as this area all falls within the volcanic granite, lava and ashes. The Windermere area contains slate, sandstones and siltstones, and that is only a stone’s throw away, and the Penrith rocks are limestone.
n
I finished the day with a bus trip using my explorer ticket, doing a round trip from Keswick to Buttermere via the Honister Pass.
This varied walk starts at Portinscale, where I couldn’t help but notice the number of different species of bird in the grounds of our accommodation, including a tree creeper. It was one of those days when the weather sets out to play with you, so that you never quite know when to put on your raincoat or whether you will have time to get it out of your rucksack before the next brief but very soaking shower.
I turned to the right, where the path initially sets off downhill, but then there is soon an escape route that takes you to the top of Lattrigg at 368 metres. My goodness, it was windy on that exposed hill. Someone has thoughtfully placed a bench for people to linger and enjoy the distant views through the lesser mountains to Scafell, I thought I caught a glimpse of it at one point but with the fickle weather it was difficult to tell.
Walking with Gill 